Friday, August 15, 2008

Vande Mataram!

I think it was in 1997, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of India's independence that a series of videos were made with the Vande Mataram theme. A few of us in the then 'youth brigade' of the carnatic music scene were specifically chosen to sing Vande mataram together. Here is the video and some info about it. It was commonly agreeed that Bombay Jayashri would set the Vande mataram to music. We were quite clear that the piece should have enough of a carnatic feel to it. She came up with Khamas version that you see below. The recording was done at the studios of AR Rahman in Chennai, unfortunately the MAN himself was not there for the recording! Thought it would be nice to post this today on Independence day. Interestingly you can see that some of the others who were already part of the 'youth brigade' and some others who later gained entry and enjoying substantial success are absent! Vande Mataram!